Many Manitobans are changing their travel plans this long weekend to avoid the United States. It’s the latest step in an ongoing boycott that recent data suggests has cost North Dakota more than $50 million. Abiodun Adetu and her 9-year-old son usually head across the border during the Labour Day long weekend to do some back-to-school shopping. But not this year. “I mean, we want to keep our money home to grow our economy,” Adetu said. “We are shopping everything locally here. Usually, like I said earlier, we would have travelled (to the U.S.) to do most of the shopping.” According to North Dakota Tourism and Marketing’s 2025 annual report, last year the state had 382,929 border entries from Canada. That represents a 24.9 per cent decrease from 2024. The report says this drop in travel is “driven by political tensions and boycott sentiment,” leading to an estimated $57 million loss in Canadian visitor spending. “I think some of it is the heightened rhetoric… we definitely have seen that. We felt that,” said Barry Wilfahrt, the president and CEO of the Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce. “I think in the States, I also see less people from here going up to Canada for some of the same reasons.” Still, Wilfahrt said businesses in Grand Forks are still ready to welcome Canadians. “No matter who the president is or who the prime minister is, we’re friends, neighbours,” Wilfahrt said. “We love it when our Canadian friends come down here to do business with us. We love to go up to Winnipeg.” But at the border, Emerson Duty Free Shop owner Simon Resch is expecting a quiet long weekend. “September long weekend is historically one of the strongest travel weekends at border crossings like ours here in Emerson, and I just don’t think it’s going to materialize,” he said. Resch said since the start of the trade war, traffic at his shop has dropped 75 per cent. He said those who do stop in share a similar sentiment. “There’s a very strong sentiment against the rhetoric, against the economic pressure being put on Canada,” he said. “For American customers who do come in, there is a sense of embarrassment. People are ashamed. They’re apologetic.” But until the trade war settles, Winnipeg resident Matthew Sikora said he has no plans to venture south of the border. “Well, let’s just say Trump’s not making everyone happy these days, and we don’t like all these tariffs he’s putting in place,” he said. “So we’ll stick around here, spend the money here.”
